KUALA LUMPUR – National sprint champion Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi has set his sights on the 2024 Paris Olympics as his main goal this year, hoping to make his debut at the world’s most prestigious sporting event.
The Auburn University student in Alabama, United States, who created a sensation at the 2022 Under-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last year, expressed his desire to continue bringing honours to his country.
“All I ask is that all fans of my country pray for me to qualify for the Olympics.
“That is my main goal this year, to continue to promote the country’s name and place Malaysia on the world stage,” said the 100m men’s bronze medalist at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The athlete, who will turn 20 next month, intends to begin his mission for the 2024 Olympics during Ramadan.
After making thorough preparations, including participating in several indoor tournaments, he hopes there will be no obstacles to competing in the Yellow Jacket Invite open tournament at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 15 and 16.
The tournament is the first outdoor competition in which he will participate this year.
He said that he plans to compete in the first week of Ramadan, going through a training session to allow him to focus on fasting.
“My coach and I agreed to compete in the first week of Ramadan because I am certain that my body is still in peak form despite the fact that I have been fasting for several days.
“Now I have about six to eight tournaments left to try to qualify for the Paris Olympics, either through the merit of my world ranking or the standard qualifying mark of 10 seconds,” said the athlete from Teluk Intan, Perak.
Azeem’s goal for the tournament in Atlanta is to run under 10.20 seconds, which is close to his season best of 10.11s last year and his national record of 10.09s established at the 2022 World Under-20 Athletics Championships.
For the record, Azeem finished fifth in the 100m final of the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, with a record of 10.25s and advanced to the first round of the 100m World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
Last month, Azeem recorded 6.55s in the 60m event at an indoor championship at Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex, South Carolina.
Former national record holder Watson Nyambek was the last national athlete to compete in the men’s 100m event at the Olympics at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 editions, while former Southeast Asian sprint king Nazmizan Muhammad was the last national representative to compete in the men’s 200m event at the Athens 2004 edition. – March 9, 2024